The (Modern) Way of The Ninja

VI

I finally found a use for my belt. I thought the chest harness would completely eliminate the need for it, but I need the belt to hold my guns. I am now the proud owner of two semi-auto pistols! Don't ask me what kind- I've never been very good with gun names.

I did get a few strange looks when I arrived at my next class. No one else had received a sister sword. They all had normal single swords attached to their belts. Mike was the only one asked me why I had two swords. "They're sister-swords." I explained. He nodded his head as if he understood, but I'm pretty sure he was just trying to be polite. When we arrived at the gun range there was no introduction or anything. Sensei Met- that was her name as I found out later- she was an older woman with graying hair and some wrinkles. She gestured to the table. It was filled with firearms- there was all kinds. Pistols, snipers, a few shotguns. "Choose." She said curtly. We all walked up to the table I found a pair of pistols and knew that those would have to be my only choice. After all, definitely no snipers for this guy, not that I fully understood why.

After I strapped them onto my belt, Sensei Met gave me some clip pouches so I can have extra ammo. "I will train you to not miss," She said, "But if you have to kill many enemies from range, extra ammo will come in handy." I nodded. I hadn't really thought about killing anyone yet, but, being a ninja, it might be inevitable. After everyone had chosen their guns, (Mike chose a sniper, which he proceeded to flaunt in my face) we lined up at the range. She taught us normal guns stuff. We shot a few rounds, and then she did something completely unexpected. She told us to close our eyes. "A true ninja will be able to hit their target reliably. Eyes closed or not." She said. I closed my eyes and focused.  I felt like I could feel the target and everything around me. I pulled the trigger,

I missed.

I, like most people, had missed entirely.I was disappointed, but not surprised. I looked at Mike who did look surprised, because he had shot the target dead center. Sensei Met nodded to him when she passed by to inspect everyone's work. She then grabbed the gun in my holster and said, "This how you will be able to shoot at the end of my class." As she said this she lifted the gun and hit the center in one swift motion. Everyone's jaws dropped. The rest of the class was just normal practice.

After that we had lunch. I sat next to Mike. We were alone until the girl who had showed me to my room sidled up next to me. She had her hood up so I still didn't get a good look at her."Don't look at me." She whispered. So of course the first thing we did was look at  her. "You idiot!" She whisper-yelled. "I don't know why I'm doing this..." she muttered to herself. "OK," she said. See those 3rd years on the other side of the lunch room?" Mike and I looked and saw who she was talking about. Across the room there were three guys in red robes, they were glaring at me. They were wearing hoods and masks, so I couldn't see their faces.  "Yeah, we seem them." Mike said. She continued. "They don't like you guys... you know how you got the sister swords?" she asked. "Ummm, yeah..." I said, "So what? It's not like it's a big deal..."

"Oh, but it is!" She said, "Not many people have sister swords. Means that they will be one of the best sword fighters of their generation." She turned to Mike. "And you!" she said. "No one has ever shot the bull's eye with eyes closed on their first day!" She peered closely at him, leaning over the table in the process. Mike leaned back uncomfortably. "I see something in you..." She murmured. She sat back down. "But anyways, those three are going to try to attack you. They won't kill you, but they won't play nice either."

"When?" I asked.

"Tonight, after hours." She said looking at her food.

"Won't we be in our rooms?" I asked.

"Um, seriously? We're training to be ninjas. The Senseis  want us to find secret ways around. Did you notice that you mostly just saw first years today?"

Mike and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well that's cuz' everyone else has their own ways around. I keep forgetting this is your first day. A lot of people just start during the normal year, but we had a huge surge today. I feel like the Senseis are preparing or something. But anyways, sleep with one eye open tonight."

She got up to leave. "Wait!" Mike said. She turned. "What?" She asked.

"What's your name?" Mike asked.

"I don't like my real name." She said, "So you can call me Farseer."

"Thank you!" I said.

____________________________________________________________________________________

The rest of my classes were fairly normal. I had Math, Science, and Social Studies. The only difference was an increase in violent metaphors. And the fact that everyone was carrying weapons.

I sat on my bed after playing a ninjafied version of Call of Duty. I was waiting for the 3rd years to attack me. I got up made myself some chimichangas  (in honor of Dead Pool, of course) and sat back down. I was eating and hoping that maybe, just maybe, Farseer had been wrong. Maybe she had misunderstood what was going on. The truth is, I was scared. I had never actually been in a fight before. (Skellies don't count) I was going to lose obviously, I mean it was three against one. I had this zinging through my head over and over again when I heard a ping.  I grabbed my hood and my mask, and slid them on. I didn't want them to see the fear in my eyes.

Three figures in red dropped down. Guess I had Red along with the first two ninjas I met now, who I hadn't seen since, as the were third years.  The three figures dropped down and stood around me i a semi-circle I pulled out my swords and readied myself.

They lunged.